2012

Upgrading your tongue essential in today's job market

2012 September, 26

To mark the occasion of the European Day of Languages today, Rosetta Stone, a leading provider of technology-based language-learning solutions, uncovers major drivers for adult language learning today, citing improvement of career prospects as a major driver.

Recent youth unemployment figures show there are over one million looking for jobs in the UK. The Association of Graduate Recruiters reports as many as 73 applicants per graduate job vacancy. In competitive times, graduates and professionals alike must seek to improve their career prospects by acquiring new skills and refining existing ones to standout in the application process. In their recent research into the major motivations behind the decision to learn a new language, Rosetta Stone has found that to get ahead at work (27%) plays a key part in this trend.

According to the European wide project Language Rich Europe2, sponsored by Rosetta Stone, over 50% of companies take languages into account when recruiting. Sylke Riester, Managing Director Europe at Rosetta Stone says: "What we are seeing now is a more definitive sense of motivation for learning languages than ever before – not only does an additional language create a point of differentiation, but it opens up a raft of possibilities for working abroad, or working more closely with overseas teams."

Rosetta Stone has found, through their recent collaboration with Forbes3 that organisations are increasingly seeing multilingualism as a necessity in their workforces, citing fewer mistakes, increased efficiency, better cultural understanding and leadership development as some of the major benefits. Therefore, candidates with existing language skills seem quite clearly to be at an advantage.

Rosetta Stone provides e-learning to individuals and private and public sector organisations in over 20 languages. Sylke Riester adds: "Whilst there may be a strategic reason for people's choices and obvious pay-offs, there is no denying the confidence people get when they can speak another language."

Other major drivers for language learning which Rosetta Stone has identified - besides career prospects - are: travel and culture; ancestry and heritage and relationships and love.

Rosetta Stone is changing the way the world learns languages providing interactive solutions that unlock the natural language-learning ability in everyone. Available in more than 20 languages, Rosetta Stone is used by schools, organisations and millions of individuals in over 150 countries throughout the world. The company was founded in 1992 on the core beliefs that learning a language should be natural and instinctive and that interactive technology can replicate and activate the immersion method powerfully for learners of any age. With the new version TOTALe learners practise speaking in live sessions tutored by native speakers in an interactive, online environment, play in an exclusive online community dedicated to language learning and reinforce language skills with an innovative mobile application built for iPhone®, iPad® and Android phones.